Azam Khan, the only player from Pakistan in the International League T20 (ILT20), has dropped out of the competition. The Pakistan Cricket Board has not granted the 24-year-old wicketkeeper-batter permission to play in the UAE T20 tournament (PCB). He was signed by Desert Vipers, one of the six teams in the league that is not owned by an Indian.
ILT20 is a 34-match professional franchise-based T20 cricket competition featuring 6 franchise teams, 84 international players, and 24 UAE-based players. The six teams are Sharjah Warriors, Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (Kolkata Knight Riders), Gulf Giants (Adani Sportsline), Desert Vipers (Lancer Capital), Dubai Capitals (GMR), and Abu Dhabi Knight Riders (Kolkata Knight Riders) (Capri Global).
In his 86 T20 matches so far, Azam Khan has amassed 1706 runs with a strike rate of 141.45.
“The PCB informed us in writing that NOCs were not being given to Pakistani players. CricBuzz cited an ILT20 source as stating, “It was up to the owners whether to accept Pakistan players or not, and at least one owner, Lancer Capital, were intrigued.
Pakistani players won’t be given NOCs, according to a PCB official who also said that the Dubai league’s organizers had been informed of this.
Given that Indians make up the majority of the league’s owners, this choice is hardly surprising. Due to the political hostility between India and Pakistan, it is evident that the Indian owners do not like players from that country.
The trophy for the forthcoming first season of the International League T20, which will take place in the United Arab Emirates from January 13 through February 12, 2023, was presented on Monday.
According to an official announcement from Zee Entertainment, the International League T20, which has obtained multi-year ICC clearance, will stream exclusively live on ZEE’s 10 linear channels in English, Hindi, and Tamil as well as on its OTT platform ZEE5.
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